Washington DC days 3 & 4

Thanks for sticking with me as I attempt to share our wonderful trip to Washington DC.  I'm going to wrap up the last to days in this post.

*Come Saturday morning, everyone was feeling back to normal, thank goodness!  We left the hotel on time and headed to the Smithsonian's National Zoo.  This was a stop requested by Myah and Maysen.  We had such great weather so it was enjoyable seeing the animals.  We've been to other zoos, of course, but this one featured Baby Giant Pandas (pretty sure that's an oxymoron), Lions that were amazing to watch, and large beautiful elephants among many other things.  These three features, were our favorites for sure.  We purchased some of our few souvenirs at the zoo and the girls still talk about the pandas!

*We rode the Metro to Chinatown and ate at the Wok-N-Roll.  For those of you who know me, you know I LOVE Chinese food (and that HyVee Chinese is the best in Ames!).  That being said, I'm pretty sure this place had the best Sweet and Sour Chicken I have ever had (and I've had a lot!).  On a historical note, the restaurant is in the Mary Surrat's Boarding House where the conspiracy to assassinate President Lincoln took place...crazy, huh!?!

*Following lunch, we metroed our way to the Newseum, an interactive museum featuring journalism's finest moments.  The museum wasn't as great as some of us anticipated, but we got to see (and touch...shhh) part of the Berlin Wall....way cool.  It was Family Day that day so they had some crafts set up for the kids.  Myah and Maysen made some snowglobes and newspaper wreaths.

On Newseum balcony with Capitol in background

*We headed on over to the National Archives right before they were to pull the documents....Brandon got to see the Declaration of Independence.  Mylie needed to eat at that time, but luckily I had seen it on my last trip to DC.
*We ate at Union Station for supper....talk about a busy place.

*Since I had gotten sick on Friday and missed the monuments, my dad went with Myah, Maysen and myself to see the Martin Luther King and World War 2 memorials since these were both new since I had last been there.  They are both quite amazing.  Martin Luther King stands so strong and powerful.  The design of it is so amazing.  The World War 2 Memorial is breath taking and one could probably spend an entire day there alone.
*Brandon, the girls, and I flew out from DC earlier than the rest of the crew because we needed to get back to be able to drive to Ames, settle back into home and get to work the next morning.  Because of our early flight, it wasn't direct.  We had to connect in Memphis, which ended up being delayed 2 hours.  The same thing happened to Brandon and I when we connected in Memphis for our Honeymoon.....must say something about that airport.  Nonetheless, our girls were angels and entertained themselves in the airport and on the plane again.  I still can't believe they were so good on each of the flights.  They weren't even a little whiny or crabby on the flights home after being gone for 4 days.  I would definitely travel with them again.  Aren't they sweet??

We had such an amazing trip and my notes here can't recount all of it.  Most of all, many family memories were made.  We all bonded in new ways and it was amazing.

Happy Holidays to all of my faithful friends and readers!